St. Louis transit authority rejects anti-straw purchasing ads for the dumbest of reasons

bearingarms.com

Plans for the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the ATF to bring their long-running “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” campaign designed to inform would-be straw buyers about the risks of purchasing guns for those not allowed to buy one themselves to the St. Louis area hit a major snag over the weekend when the St. Louis Metro Transit system issued a last-minute rejection of ads that were supposed to appear on a number of public buses in the area.

The move won’t prevent the campaign from moving forward, but NSSF senior vice president and general counsel Larry Keane says the decision will likely have an impact on the public awareness effort given that the bus ads were going to be a “significant” part of the campaign. Keane panned the move by the transit authority in a statement on Monday, calling it “unfortunate” and pointing out that there’s nothing controversial in the campaign to give the authority any concern. Keane also questioned the timing of the authority’s decision.

“Metro waited until the day before the “Don’t Lie” campaign began to inform us of their misguided decision. Crime has been surging in major cities, including in St. Louis, and data shows the firearm industry’s efforts to reduce criminal misuse of firearms has a real and positive impact making communities safer.”